On our reading list this weekend: what does the future hold for Armani? What does the future hold for Playboy magazine? Remembering the inspiring women who served as secret agents; and the lives of F Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda. After the break: 5 weekend reads.

Celebrating 10 years of Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, and what makes the designer so successful – and likeable. One writer takes a look at body shapes through the decades, while another tries to pinpoint the problem with skinny models; and Charlotte Casiraghi makes the move into fashion. After the break are five reads worthy of your weekend.

Despite taking inspiration from New York City’s architecture, Parisian lifestyle and the British silhouette, new fashion label, macgraw, is a lovechild of local Australian passion. The worldly muses set aback, as this high-fashion label sharpens its knives to carve its place in the Australian fashion industry.

“I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin.” So says Raymond Chandler’s famed literary detective, Phillip Marlowe, in the 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely. It’s the kind of Chandlerism that defined both the writer’s style and the lead character, himself as hardboiled as the ladies he pursues. Where the fashion world is concerned though, it’s not the detective we revere most but the…

Braids and dewy skin are having a moment in the world of beauty. Or perhaps, it might be more legitimate to say that they have had a moment at 2012 showing at Australian fashion week (MBFWA) this year. You might benefit if you add another page to your inspiration diary for coping with summer’s heat with the hair and make-up look from Christopher Esber’s show.…

Obama may have called him a jackass, but is Kanye West really an American Mozart? One writer asks why we revere the likes of Kim Kardashian over the truly accomplished, another becomes a serial instagrammer of candid subway moments, and Fashionising.com’s Daniel P Dykes gets interviewed about all things social media. Five great reads to sit down with this weekend, after the break.

With its open weave it’s not quite a summer knit of the ilk that we’ve been writing about. Nor is its hem length on par with some of the crop tops making a seasonal statement. But it is a perfect balance between the two. Somewhat practical, and yet with none of the air of practicality.

Just as we don’t expect to see swimwear photographed in black and white, we don’t expect to see a re-imagining of flapper fashion set amongst clouds of dirt. The glamour and excesses of the flapper girl have little place amongst the grit of nature. But it’s amongst such a setting that you’ll find you’ll find model Ginta Lapina as, amongst other things, she dons Gucci’s…

Traditionally it hasn’t been for everyone. There are, after all, inherent risks with a plunging neckline. Some have been dangers of an aesthetic nature, where as others can concern a girl’s modesty. That changes for summer 2012’s fashions – the plunging neckline expands and has options for all, from the sultry to the sporty. After the break we’ll take you through examples of the statement…

Every fashion trend has its poster-girl. The sapphic and androgynous did, as did rock, but the 1950s fashion trend revival has to find its own. Or has it? For the second time in as many months, model Miranda Kerr graces a magazine’s pages transformed from Victoria’s Secret bombshell into mid-20th Century pin up.